I think it's the only gambit the NHLPA has. Fehr led a strike that devastated baseball. A canceled season would be brutal for hockey - yeah the players would lose, but the owners might lose more. Given the NHL's complete intransigence to date, it's easy to think that they're not concerned about missing an entire season, but I don't believe that. The fans came back last time because they believed the game had problems. They came back because of Crosby and Ovechkin and the shootout and the new rules and the salary cap. That's all gone now, and one would think that enough of the owners realize how lucky they got last time.

I have been busy at work to pay a lot of attention to the negotiations, but since mother nature has intervened, would like to add the following.

Yes the NHL is organized as a non profit entity. Just like the NFL. They are recognized as business leagues chambers of commerce etc. I have a client which is a contractors association which is the collective bargaining agent for the contractors with a construction union.

The CBA is the only mechanism fot the owners to avoid antitrust laws regarding drafts, and other issues among the owners.

The biggest risk the owners in the NHL face is being out bid for players by other owners, really, the Wild is throwing tons of $ at players and complaining that the CBA is terrible. SHEESH!

He's denying that there was a formal offer along with the make whole provision, and there wasn't. If you don't know what else is coming along with a 'concession', it doesn't really matter what the concession is.

The whole make whole "concession" leak to Dreger was B.S. media manipulation by the NHL. I don't put any real stock into it. I do put stock in the fact that the NHL is playing games to try and get a resolution (favorable of course) done. I think it's a good sign. I do think the lockout is ending within a month.

Basically I think the NHL saw how the NBA locked out, missed 10-20% of the season and no one cared in the end, and decided to do the same. The plan was to make the players sweat with lost game checks for a month or two and try to extort as large a percentage of HRR% possible from them. Fehr hasn't flinched beyond accepting 57% as unsustainable. That seems to be Fehr's strategy, just not move unless necessary, it will work if the NHL really doesn't want to miss games. They seem this lockout (opposed to last lockout) to not want to miss games.

The whole make whole "concession" leak to Dreger was B.S. media manipulation by the NHL. I don't put any real stock into it. I do put stock in the fact that the NHL is playing games to try and get a resolution (favorable of course) done. I think it's a good sign. I do think the lockout is ending within a month.

Basically I think the NHL saw how the NBA locked out, missed 10-20% of the season and no one cared in the end, and decided to do the same. The plan was to make the players sweat with lost game checks for a month or two and try to extort as large a percentage of HRR% possible from them. Fehr hasn't flinched beyond accepting 57% as unsustainable. That seems to be Fehr's strategy, just not move unless necessary, it will work if the NHL really doesn't want to miss games. They seem this lockout (opposed to last lockout) to not want to miss games.

At least I really hope that's what's going on. Seems to make sense.

I think he's flinched more than that - he's willing to go to 50/50 if the NHL hits certain revenue thresholds. What's interesting is that this is the opposite of how the old plan was set up - the NHLPA got a higher % of money based on higher revenues. That is, in retrospect, a horrible decision, but I honestly think the NHL way miscalculated how much they would suffer from the lockout - they didn't think they would hit that 57% threshold, but I think they hit it by 2007-08. Still, that setup makes no sense, as it places a heavier burden on teams that are likely revenue laggards. So I'm hoping they can agree to something where the players revenue share decreases as revenue increases, although of course the NHL kinda slashed and burned the idea of growth by canceling the Winter Classic. It is interesting how counter-intuitive the idea of increased revenue enabling a lower players share, but it makes it incumbent on the owners to generate as much revenue as possible and attempts to keep the players' current contracts as is.

The meeting between Daly and S. Fehr has been going on for 9 hours now.

Wow really? Where did you see that reported?

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"Swim against the tide, don't follow the group, stay away from the majority, seek out the fresh and new, stay away from the poseurs, and don't be a barnacle. Be original, be different, be passionate, be selfless and be free. Be a hockey fan."
--John Buccigross

"Swim against the tide, don't follow the group, stay away from the majority, seek out the fresh and new, stay away from the poseurs, and don't be a barnacle. Be original, be different, be passionate, be selfless and be free. Be a hockey fan."
--John Buccigross

Good news. Unofficial, no big "here come the NHL on their way to the meeting" covered by 10 news outlets. Might be making progress, especially considering the "Make Whole"-bit owners seem to accept modifying.

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Winner of the 2009-10 Slava Fetisov Award For Best International Poster
Winner of the 2011-2012 RD Avatar Award

meh. At one time I was a big baseball fan. Now I couldnt tell you who won the WS last year. Only remember this year's because it just happened. Havent watched a game in years. Hate to think I may one day feel the same about the NHL.

I hope this is the beginning to the end for the sake of our sport, on another off subject I hope and pray all my fellow Devils fans and all familys effected by the catastrophe in the North East will be ok I moved away temporarily 7 yrs ago and lost my apt to Wilma in South Fl but to see what has happened to the state I love and the tri state area my thoughts and prayers are with you all stay warm and stay strong!
Sincerely Devs1965

meh. At one time I was a big baseball fan. Now I couldnt tell you who won the WS last year. Only remember this year's because it just happened. Havent watched a game in years. Hate to think I may one day feel the same about the NHL.

Sadly, I am getting to that point. I am going to find it hard to feel that same passion for a while, and I never though I would say that. I feel a lot of anger towards both sides right now, even though I feel that the players are "right". Some of it is that Gary Bettman and Donald Fehr are about as unlikable as they come, but I am tired of the whole "the fans will just come back no matter what we do" attitude. I'm so tired of having to get to this point...you would think, just once, there would be some kind of collective learning experience, where these clowns would just wake the fvck up and say, "you know, we've got a nice pot of gold here, let's do what we have to do to make sure another 2004-05 mess, or anything like it, happens again." It's very simplistic for sure, but quite simply, I've had enough.

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THE NHL MUST LOVE THE DEVILS - from who else? A RANGER fan![Mark Messier]: A big, bald attention whore with a stupid Easter Island-lookin face. - from who else? DaneykoIsGod!

Even when Marty comes back maybe Larry should put Clemmensen to be on the goal during the shootouts.Can the coach do that ? Switch the goalies 5 seconds to go in overtime? - Most priceless quote ever posted on a message board.

Martin Brodeur: THE MOST ALL-TIME WINS!, 12 straight seasons of 30+ wins, 3 Stanley Cups, 4 Vezina Trophies, and zero respect from too many so-called Devils "fans" who are either too young or too bandwagon to remember the much darker days of Sean Burke, Craig Billington, Bob Sauve, Alain Chevrier, and the talented but overwhelmed Chico Resch, among many others.

It's easy to support a great player when he's playing at his very best. It takes a true fan to support that same player during those rare moments and stretches when he's not. Babe Ruth went 0-4 some games, and sometimes Wayne Gretzky was held pointless. There may be such a thing as greatness, but no such thing as absolute perfection every single night.

#30 FOREVER!

20 out of 1,946 njdevs.com members agree: CR1976 is the Most Knowledgable Poster of 2008! Victory is mine...oh yes, victory is mine!

Sadly, I am getting to that point. I am going to find it hard to feel that same passion for a while, and I never though I would say that. I feel a lot of anger towards both sides right now, even though I feel that the players are "right". Some of it is that Gary Bettman and Donald Fehr are about as unlikable as they come, but I am tired of the whole "the fans will just come back no matter what we do" attitude. I'm so tired of having to get to this point...you would think, just once, there would be some kind of collective learning experience, where these clowns would just wake the fvck up and say, "you know, we've got a nice pot of gold here, let's do what we have to do to make sure another 2004-05 mess, or anything like it, happens again." It's very simplistic for sure, but quite simply, I've had enough.

The owners don't think that, they are just trying to make the players (and by extension, you) think that they do. But it is a shame that they feel the need to deny us NHL hockey as a bargaining strategy.

The owners don't think that, they are just trying to make the players (and by extension, you) think that they do. But it is a shame that they feel the need to deny us NHL hockey as a bargaining strategy.

And that's really my point. You've already got one season is the books that was chopped down to 48 games, and another with a big fat zero. This one at the very least will be significantly truncated. I know that the lengths of seasons have always fluctuated throughout the history of the NHL...since I've been watching we've had 80 games, 84 games, 82 games, so it's not like 82 is some sacred number by which all seasons should be measured...but I just feel like the league starts to lose some integrity the absence of an entire season and the lopping off of a number of games in two more seasons over a relatively short time frame.

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THE NHL MUST LOVE THE DEVILS - from who else? A RANGER fan![Mark Messier]: A big, bald attention whore with a stupid Easter Island-lookin face. - from who else? DaneykoIsGod!

Even when Marty comes back maybe Larry should put Clemmensen to be on the goal during the shootouts.Can the coach do that ? Switch the goalies 5 seconds to go in overtime? - Most priceless quote ever posted on a message board.

Martin Brodeur: THE MOST ALL-TIME WINS!, 12 straight seasons of 30+ wins, 3 Stanley Cups, 4 Vezina Trophies, and zero respect from too many so-called Devils "fans" who are either too young or too bandwagon to remember the much darker days of Sean Burke, Craig Billington, Bob Sauve, Alain Chevrier, and the talented but overwhelmed Chico Resch, among many others.

It's easy to support a great player when he's playing at his very best. It takes a true fan to support that same player during those rare moments and stretches when he's not. Babe Ruth went 0-4 some games, and sometimes Wayne Gretzky was held pointless. There may be such a thing as greatness, but no such thing as absolute perfection every single night.

#30 FOREVER!

20 out of 1,946 njdevs.com members agree: CR1976 is the Most Knowledgable Poster of 2008! Victory is mine...oh yes, victory is mine!